Typical routing and switching platforms comprise about one or about two fixed control plane processors, e.g., route processors (RPs). Some routers or switches also comprise line processors (LPs). The control plane processors may run a plurality of processes and handle load in substantially a static or fixed manner, where processes require substantial manual configuration. In today's modern hardware, more control plane processors are being added to “scale up” a router or switch to handle more network traffic. For example, more than about three control plane processors may be used in network components by adding or plugging additional computation elements (CEs), such as LPs, e.g., with single or multiple core control plane processors. As the cost of CEs decreases, the quantity of control plane processors that can be used in the network components increases, and thus the control plane processors' capabilities to run more processes and services increases. To benefit from such increase in capability, a more dynamic configuration model may be needed, for example to allow automatic configuration of control plane processors, migration of processes between control plane processors, and distribution of load among control processors.